Mike Sixel

They didn't, and the Royals lost for over 30 years......I too would rather add the FAs when the team is good, and they need to fill one hole....but, I guess, since it is an entertainment business that somewhat relies on butts in seats....at some point, they need to try to speed up the process, imo. I do agree, the Twins can't buy a team like the Yankees used to. No place have I advocated that that. Had they signed a big time FA 5 years ago, to a 6 year deal......would they be hamstrung right now? How about 4 years ago? Nope. edit: I think I was clear, best, not most expensive. And, I was clear, you'd have to be lucky to do that. No place have I ever stated they should sign the most expensive FA every year. No place.

Wow, there's a lot in this post.....I especially like the polite way it is posted... Where did I say the following: 1. FA contracts are good the whole length of the contract 2. Teams should sign players that are under performing 3. Teams should sign many mediocre players at the same position, rather than 1 good player 4. They should never trade prospects for proven players to get over the hump No place, in the history of this site, did I post those things. But, it was an excellent straw man post.

where have I commented on that at all?

Thanks for the link, I'll have to check it out when I get home!

I agree with stringer.....if a player does somehow have lots of errors, that's likely a good indicator of CURRENT fielding issues.

I threw in the pitching/hitting/rookie question because that's been his answer about Berrios over and over. As for Gonsalves, if he's now a number 4, while not what we all hope, that's still a pretty good outcome. Having never seen him, I can only scout the stats, and I like the stats a lot.

Klaw chat today... John: Buxton has been on a tear since he was called up again. Is this just small sample size or did he alter his approach or mechanics? Klaw: I know of no change in approach or mechanics, and it’s just seven games, but I’m happy to see it. Brett: Why do you think the Twins didn’t call up ABW or Garver when they’re giving consistent ABs to Schafer and Centeno? Klaw: Walker has 202 strikeouts this season. Those are good reasons. Bruce: Maybe Im having some selction bias, but rookie hitters doing so much better than rookie pitchers this year. Even looking at the distibution in top prospect lists, are we in a down cycle for pitching prospects? Klaw: I’ve mentioned this before but I think differences between the minor and major league baseballs are the root cause. Tye: How historically impressive has Brian Dozier been since the AS break? It seems like you don’t even hear anything about him. Klaw: Playing for a non-contender doesn’t help. I wrote in June that he should be in the All-Star Game over Nunez as the Twins’ rep and was told by a couple of Twins fans that this was dumb because Dozier was having a bad season. Clay: Does Buxton have potential to be as good defensively in center as Kiermaier? Klaw: That’s a very high bar but I think Buxton’s speed and arm could make him a top 3 CF in baseball. Marshall: Has Gonsalves performance this year raised his profile at all in your opinion? Klaw: Not really. Two-pitch starter struggles with the breaking ball. Walked a lot of guys in double-A but was young for the level (turned 22 on July 8th). Back end starter? Marshall: The power that Dozier has developed over the last few years seems really out of character in comparison to his early scouting reports and minor league numbers, can you think of any other players that had something similar happen to them when they made the bigs? Klaw: Matt Duffy’s 2015 season comes to mind. JG: AA is rumored to be a candidate for the prez of baseball operations for the Twins. Would he be a good hire? Klaw: He’d be an outstanding hire. He really fits what they have said they’re looking for. Marshall: If the Twins called would you answer, or is your current gig just too good (work/life balance, time with your daughter, seemingly good editorial freedom) for you to entertain a change at this juncture in your life? Klaw: If the Twins called, I would recommend three candidates who are more qualified than I am.

I can't say off one game if they handled him correctly, but I can look at the last couple years and have an opinion that they did. No problem for me if you don't agree. Like I said, I'm not drawing conclusions on outcomes (SSS or not SSS), but on the process.

No need to apologize at all. It is a pretty common mistake. Have a great day!

I did not compare the two things at all....I pointed out that the ends of a bad process do not justify the process, and gave an example.

I don't think it is fair to say "he had a bigger payroll before, so he can't work here"....which I don't THINK anyone is saying...... We just don't know what he'd do with a smaller payroll as a constraint.

You calculated the mean in your example...... Median is the mid point of a list.... 1 2 100 1000 5000 1000000 100000000 The median in that list 1000. You do not take 1 and 100000000 and do some math to find the median. edit to fix mean:.....14429443.29 I guess maybe in your example you were looking at a list that varied from the Rays to the Dodgers, and did not do math to find your number. In any event, I don't really care....so I doubt I'll respond again.

So, he gets to skip days while working at ESPN.......do others get to skip to go to their part time job they need to make a living? Good luck to him....I have doubts, but it would be a cool story.

That was a great write up Brandon.

There are some awesome points in this post, and it was very polite. Thank you. I agree with pretty much all of that, really. The one part I don't agree with....is that not signing FAs is part of why bad teams are bad. They have decided (probably correctly) that they should wait 3-5 years to be good....and will build slowly thru the draft (and, for teams not named the Twins, Cubans or expensive Japanese players) and thru the international amateur lines. I have no issue with that decision at all. It is generally the correct decision. OTOH......If a bad team signs the best FA every year for three years......it is certainly possible to speed up the process, though you'd have to be very lucky/skilled, to pick the right player(s). Frankly, imo, a bad team should sign highly variable players to low/mid 1 year make good deals, and then when they work, trade them......but I am sympathetic to those that believe you can speed up the process by signing legit FAs. I am more sympathetic to your stance, though.

I don't think anyone is arguing that signing 1 player is going to fix the world.....I think some are arguing that NOT signing expensive FAs is cutting off one way to acquire players. For me, if the team is bad, and they have lots of money, I don't see the general harm in signing a FA. He probably won't turn the team around, but unless he is blocking a young player......it probably isn't an issue for most teams to sign high priced players. Now, it can later create salary constraints, but that's about planning and resource allocation and being willing to trade players and lots of stuff.....Nothing about having Mauer on this roster prevents them from spending more money. It is how the money is spent that matters. I don't expect everyone to agree with this, btw. But, it is where I sit.

It would definitely be a change. I just don't know enough about how a GM decides what to do to know what to say about most of the candidates. Also, all the moves have to be looked at in context. What I like about what AA did at the end was that he saw NYY and BOS were not their normal powerhouses, and he struck when he had the chance. The Jays were the best AL team last year, they just happened to lose in the tourney. They look like about the 2nd or 3rd best team this year in the AL. It's hard to argue with the outcomes at the end of his tenure.

Bah, he didn't even hit a HR last night, did he? Bum.

Thanks for the work on this! I really like Granite and Wade a lot....(well, I like others also, but for some reason I wanted to type that).

There is nothing "tricky" here. I went to one of the more respected sites for reporting on payroll, I looked at the list, and saw where $100MM stood. That was the extent of my effort.

Yup, kind of hard to vote for a candidate that does not know anything about foreign policy, other than it is bad to have one and we should isolate ourselves from the world.

I never said it was entirely about opportunity....I will also say I have no idea how this became about Mauer. We were discussing whether or not RBI was a good indicator of whether or not 1 hitter was better than another hitter. I would argue that it is a weak indicator. Mauer is a great hitter, but I agree, he does have some weaknesses (which are much smaller than most hitters').

You'd rather give up players than money? The team has plenty of revenue, when winning, to have a payroll north of $115 to 125MM....

It would not totally shock me, but I'd not be thrilled with it.

The Sox players were overwhelmed, they left them in the majors. Can we say the same about Vargas? Chargois? Meyer? Berrios? We just disagree, I'm ok with that.